Portal:Judaism

Tefillin (or phylacteries) are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jewish men during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form (the singular being "tefillah"), it is loosely used as a singular as well.The hand-tefillin, or shel yad, is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead. The Torah commands that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. The tefillin each contain four portions: Exodus 13:1–10, 13:11–16, and Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21, all of which mention the commandment. In the hand-tefillin, these are all written on one scroll, but in the head-tefillin each has its own scroll and compartment. (Read more...)

Did you know...

• ... that the Château Pastré (pictured) in Marseille, designed by Jean-Charles Danjoy for Eugène Pastré, was a haven for Jewish artists in World War II?
• ... that the creator of the TV series Homeland, Gideon Raff, is the son of a former Accountant General in Israel's Ministry of Finance?
• ... that Dr. Moshe Wallach, founder and director of Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Hospital for 45 years, lived in the hospital and was buried beside it?
• ... that much like Anne Frank's diary, the letters of Philip Slier, discovered more than fifty years after his death, reveal the history of Nazi-controlled Netherlands through a personal perspective?
• ... that the Supreme Court of the United States decision in Zivotofsky v. Clinton concerned the status of Jerusalem in United States foreign policy?

]]

The First Roumanian-American congregation is an Orthodox Jewish congregation that for more than 100 years occupied a historic building (pictured) at 89–93 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. Those who organized the congregation in 1885 were part of a wave of Romanian-Jewish immigrants who settled mostly in this precinct. The building had previously been a church, then a synagogue, and then a church again. It was transformed into a synagogue for a second time and extensively remodeled when the First Roumanian-American congregation purchased it in 1902. The synagogue's high ceiling, good acoustics, and seating for up to 1,800 people made it famous as the "Cantor's Carnegie Hall". The congregation's membership was in the thousands in the 1940s, but by the early 2000s had declined to around 40 as Jews moved out of the Lower East Side. Though its building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, the congregation was reluctant to accept outside assistance in maintaining it. In January 2006, the roof collapsed and the building was demolished two months later. (Read more...)

• Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth and member of the House of Lords, dies (7 November 2020)
• The Pittsburgher Rebbe, Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer dies of COVID-19
• A peace agreement is reached between Israel and the UAE (13 August 2020)
• Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz dies, editor of the Steinsaltz Talmud (7 August 2020)

• Contribute to this portal, especially the News section.
• Announce new articles related to Judaism.
• Explore, edit, and improve articles in Category:Judaism.
• Join WikiProject Judaism or WikiProject Israel.
• Explore and help out Portal:Israel and Portal:Kabbalah.